


Stories of the Second Self: Man of the House

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [138]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom, crime - Fandom, domestic violence - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22689325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Still traumatized by what her undead husband, Terrance did to her lover, Carol is forced to relive the fear every Mother's Day. The day when Terrance, now a vampire with arrest warrants in three states, would secretly slip into her home to leave a card and display roses everywhere. Only this time Terrance wants to be there when Carol discovers he has done it again. This time, Terrance wants something more, and Carol desperately tries to get out a plea for help.
Series: Alter Idem [138]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Man of the House

The first time he did this, Carol couldn't breathe for a long moment. Terence had said that it was over between them, after he had caught up with her and her lover whom he butchered. And yet-- the entire apartment livingroom Carol, Sierra, and Danny were staying at was inundated with bouquets of roses.

Roses!

Always roses, and it was roses again. Terence didn't do this on the anniversary of their marriage, nor on Carol's birthday. Yet, every Mother's Day he managed to track her down and leave roses and a card for her to find.

"Sick!" Carol blurted out, as if she wanted to vomit.

The man Carol was seeing behind Terence's back, Keith had tried to kill Terence, even though that wasn't Carol's plan. The funny thing is after Terence died, before Keith shot him no less, he had risen to come after her and Keith.

Terence's choice of roses might have had something to do with blood, seeing how much of Keith's blood he had splattered over the walls of that roadside motel room years ago. Carol couldn't guess. Terence was never a roses kind of man when he was alive, nor any flowers really.

Though, maybe being a vampire now, Terence found a new humor in it. Back then, telling people her ex was a nightcrawler would've guaranteed Carol a one-way ticket to a psychiatric facility and loss of custody of her kids. Now, everyone knew vampires were real and just kinda accepted it.

Not Carol, however. She kept on the move because of these surprises Terence would leave her, and yet he always seemed to find out where she was. Carol struggled to hang onto a job or an apartment for long, and often depended on her parents' support.

"Gotta get this crap out of here before the kids come back," Carol said, and started scooping up rose bouquets.

The first one she grabbed stuck her with a thorn. "Ow! Gawd!"

Taking a close look, Carol saw that Terence chose the thorniest roses he could find and seemed to make sure they stabbed through the red paper they were wrapped in.

"Asshole!" Carol hissed and went to find some gloves.

"Oh, come now," sound a voice that chilled her to the bone.

"The hell do you want?" Carol demanded, though she whirled around and backed up fearfully.

Terence strolled in from the kids' bedroom smooth like a cat proudly displaying a caught bird. "Hey honey!"

His eyes were as solid black as Carol's memories and nightmares of him since he first caught up with her and Keith. Deathly pale, sunken cheeks and temples, and still he carried himself with a predatory vigor that disturbed Carol for it still having a certain appeal.

"Fuck you!" Carol was terrified, but she also had taken enough.

"You did give it up easily enough to Keith," Terence tossed casually back, and then plopped down into the loveseat.

"Why are you here?" Carol stayed standing, and imagined what in the house she could run for to protect herself.

"We're accepted now," Terence informed her, "I don't have to hide what happened to me. I think it's time the kids know about their dad."

Just then Carol noticed the chain around Terence's neck. On it hung two bullet slugs with something engraved into them.

Terence noticed her attention, and held up the chain. "You like it? They're the shots Keith fired into me that day. Poetic, really. Just two. One for Danny and one for Sierra."

"God, you're evil!" Carol's revulsion turned into full on scorn.

"Yeah," Terence quickly nodded, and draped an arm over the back of the other side of the loveseat. "I know. Apparently this Alter Idem thing we're under seemed to know that. By the time I resolved our... Keith issue, I had gotten pretty good at it."

"And now you're here for me," Carol's own words sent a shiver down her spin, "Why? Why now, after you telling me you're past it?"

"I am past it," Terence insisted, his other hand on his chest with a look of pure innocence staining his features. "I really do miss the kids."

"I told them you're dead," Carol spat with dripping venom.

"That's okay," Terence's face shifted to overdone sympathy, all the creepier for his eyes and mouth full of razors. "You did what you had to do to spare them trauma, and I thank you for that."

"Bullshit," Carol shouted, and folded her arms, mostly to hide the shaking, and leaned forward. "What's your game?"

"You really think I'm lying?" Terence replied, his express almost ready to melt with feigned sorrow.

"If you tell me that hurts I'll know you're full of shit," Carol seethed.

"Have Sierra or Danny changed?" Terence asked.

"None of your business." Carol tried mightily to retain the stern look on her face, but inside she kept seeing herself bolting any second.

"Enough of that, Carol," Terence bemoaned as if he meant it. "I'm not even asking for us to do a family event for you. I just want the kids to see that their dad still cares for them and let them know they're mom is appreciated."

Carol could taste the bile building in her throat from what he said, and the sour sensation made it's way to her face. "Just-- leave us alone, please! I can't take this."

"I had a hard time too, Carol," Terence said, leaning forward in the loveseat as though counseling her. "I really did. Waking up to see myself in a mirror was the hardest thing I'd lived through, harder than knowing you'd cheated on me and stole all our money."

"Three states say you're a serial killer." Carol finally was able to say it out loud, and then feeling a cold flash immediately after.

"So there it is." Terence's expression just went as cold as his body, and those obsidian eyes locked onto hers as he added, "You've probably known since I resolved your little infidelity, but you just couldn't say it."

"You were a monster before you started to look like it," Carol reinforced, though as regretful of the declaration as her first.

"And you were drawn to that," Terence countered, causing Carol to shut her eyes against the accusation.

"I'm not doing this." Carol's voice cracked, while she shook her head.

"Oh, yes you are," Terence replied, standing up.

Her entire body in jitters, Carol unconsciously stepped back. "Don't!"

"Don't what?" Terence pulled that innocence face again, tilting his head in deceptive confusion. "Come on, Carol. Don't what? Did you think I was going to harm you? You really believe I would do that to Sierra and Danny? That does hurt!"

The hardness of his tone in those final words, flooded Carol with mortal terror. Then the front door flew open, and Danny raced into the living room, only to stop dead in his tracks on what he found.

Unsure what Terence was going to do, Carol considered the fact that Danny now had two small antlers on his forehead, wide nose bridge, pointed ears, and hoofed feet.

"Dad?" Danny asked, simply befuddled by his father's corpse standing in the room. "Is that you?"

"Oh, how you've grown." Terence seemed to forget Carol entirely, as he stepped over to Danny. "You must be in junior high now."

"Yeah," Danny replied, and then pointed to his head, "And my antlers started coming in."

"Oh, that's wonderful," Terence beamed with a welcoming enthusiasm that Carol couldn't believe was real.

"Sierra's still human, though," Danny just let it out, not considering anything of it. "When mom told us about you I thought you were never coming back."

"It's not for long," Terence said, offering Carol a fleeting glance, before he placed a lifeless hand under Danny's chin.

"Can I hug you?" Danny asked.

When Terence nodded, Carol couldn't take it anymore, and rushed to the kitchen. She heaved into the sink and dry-gagged after that.

"Is mom okay?" Danny's voiced carried throughout the apartment.

"She'll be okay," Terence replied, "She's a trooper."

"You talk to me like I'm eight or something," Danny dared say.

"I'm sorry," Terence apologized a little too easily, "I haven't been around. How's Sierra doing?"

"She's got a boyfriend, but I don't think that's gonna last," Danny admitted without concern.

"I'm sure your mom's got that under control." Terence phrased in just such a way that Danny missed the sting.

However, a sob burst from Carol as she stayed over the sink with her hand over her mouth.

"How'd you get here in the daylight?" Danny made known the big question.

"Turns out," Terence started to sound like some cheesy kid's science show, and then turned that off with a frightening suddenness, "that people make clothes and face masks to keep out UV light, and sell it to people with my disability."

'Disability' he said, Carol reran the term in her mind, and her fist clenched with a sudden rage. A rage that, as she remembered her cell phone, caused her hand to shake while she tapped nine-one-one onto the screen.

"Do you know when Sierra comes back from school?" Terence asked.

"She's usually late," Danny answered, and then shouted out to Carol, "Mom, is it okay if I tell him?"

Not answering, Carol just waited for the operator to pick up. When they did, she didn't say anything, and just sat there hoping the operator would pick up enough to catch the hint.

"Tell me what?" Terence asked.

"Carol's after school stuff," Danny answered, "She's got a four point oh, GPA. I don't know how she does it, 'cause math is kinda hard for me, and she's too busy to help."

Suddenly, Terence was in the doorway of the kitchen. "Carol, who's that on the phone?"

"Ahh...," Carol's excuse caught in her constricted throat.

"You were calling the police, weren't you?" Terence deduced with a smile that might've been warming on a living person's face, so long as it wasn't the living Terence Judge. "That's kinda sweet, really."

"You're kidding," Carol gasped, feeling her face contort with horror and disgust.

"No, I mean it," Terence assured and took a step forward. "In fact, I think things would've worked out between us if you had reported Keith to the police instead of running off with him. Do they know about that?" Terence then pointed at the phone, "The police, I mean."

The urge just overtook Carol, who quickly shouted into the phone, "It's my ex-husband! He's here to hurt me! Help!"

Terence's reflexes weren't lightning fast, but he jumped in and forced the phone out of her hand, crushing it in his own, as he explained with a dead calm, "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not here to hurt you or the kids. But you're not keeping me out of their lives anymore."

"Dad?" an uncertain Danny entered the kitchen behind them. "I think you need to go. Like, right now."

Slowly, Terence turned to look at his still living son, and for the first time Carol saw on Terence's face a real hurt. "Okay. I guess you're right."

Terence went back to the kids' bedroom, and Carol heard him put on severe things before he came back out. Winter pants, a hooded parka, and a polarized face shield collectively covered him head to heel, as he went for the front door.

Then, Terence paused with the door wide open and daylight not harming him as he turned around. "Happy Mother's Day, Carol Odell."

Using her maiden name was his subtle insult, but Terence nonetheless left. Carol had heard stories about police and military raiding places to burn down vampires, and was sure Terence knew better than to test if the rumors were true.

Throwing her arms around Danny, Carol wept into his glossy sandy-blonde hair. "Thank you! Thank you so much for making him leave!"

"I found the news stories you were blocking us from seeing on the net," Danny confessed, and hugged back just as tightly. "I talked to some old people online. They say when this happens the son's gotta start becoming the man of the house. I'll try my best, mom."


End file.
